


A Little Honesty

by queeniesye



Category: Final Fantasy VII
Genre: F/M, Fluff, One Shot Collection, Post-Advent Children (Compilation of FFVII), Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-21
Updated: 2020-03-21
Packaged: 2021-02-28 19:14:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,429
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23252275
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/queeniesye/pseuds/queeniesye
Summary: The Seventh Heaven Bar is busy again... Will Cloud be able to help Tifa in all the chaos?
Relationships: Tifa Lockhart/Cloud Strife
Comments: 2
Kudos: 60





	A Little Honesty

**Author's Note:**

> Written following a conversation with a friend about fluff Cloud x Tifa. I wanted to write a picture of how “hand holding in a warm afternoon” scenario would be for these two!

Not a single seat in the bar was unoccupied. Small notes listing one order after another were plastered all over the bar’s mini blackboard. From the radio placed on a metallic countertop, a playlist of songs arranged by Edge FM blared, yet was drowned by an array of noises coming from boisterous conversations and the clinking of drinking glasses. The smell of tobacco and alcohol lingered in the air. Seventh Heaven was full. Barret has invited a couple of his acquaintances and friends upon his return to Midgar to celebrate recent successes achieved by his oil company. And the rest of the AVALANCHE members were too back in town.

On one corner, Cid was playing poker with several others, occasionally laughing loudly whenever his luck picked up, or throwing profanities if he got unlucky. At the pool table, Vincent was passing materia around as billiard balls with other players, to the dismay of Yuffie who would not stop warning them to be more cautious. On a table of curious talkers, Barret was engaged in a serious discussion about the oil industry – the good and the bad; about the good he would talk with excitement, the bad with cynicism. Meanwhile Nanaki and Cait Sith sat on one corner conversing to one another while drinking one pint after another of Tifa’s special Seventh Heaven vodka. Behind the bar counter was Denzel, busying himself with washing used ceramic tableware piling up in the sink. He paused once in a while to brush a few strands of hair away from his face, or to wipe sweat off his forehead. Scurrying around the bar endlessly carrying a tray of food servings to the guests was Marlene.

Taking more orders from the guests and bringing used tableware to the sink for washing was Cloud’s role for the day as he had to put his delivery service on hold. Cloud would sometimes peered into the kitchen to witness Tifa’s staggering ability to cope with endless streams of orders requested by their guests. Tifa had strictly demanded that no one but her to step into the kitchen – not even Cloud because any presence would be messing up her pace… or so she said. Once in a while, Cloud would see her sighed in exhaustion, or groaned in frustration in the process of perfecting the presentation of her dishes, and was tempted to help. But he would backed out of the idea immediately, for fear of causing more stress to Tifa.

The tables were gradually cleared from used tableware, signalling that another round of food servings will arrive.

Indeed, Tifa did came out of the kitchen not long after, bringing more dishes. She announced, at the top of her voice the list of orders to be served, “Pizza with mimett greens and chocobo toppings, grilled beef with sylkis greens – this is spicy, be warned; chocobo ham with applesauce, and tomato soup.”

The new round of food servings received yet another overwhelmingly positive responses. “Good food always means Tifa’s cooking!” a praise was yelled. The exclamation was met with cheers, which Tifa responded with a coy smile as she thanked them for their compliments before walking back into the kitchen again.

Once Tifa’s figure has disappeared into the kitchen, Cloud walked himself near to the doors to peek again. He was hopeful that he could be of help this time. Oddly, a few minutes had passed and Tifa was still inspecting the food supplies, sighing a couple of times and cupping her chin in her hand. Cloud was about to walk in to ask what was wrong but stopped himself when he saw her on her way to leave the kitchen. Cloud quickly positioned himself elsewhere in a bid to hide the fact that he had been looking out for her. After a couple of minutes of pretending to eye around the bar, Cloud felt a tap on his arm - it was Tifa.

“Cloud… we’ve run out of supplies. I can’t make the next round of dishes with just some krakka and gysahl greens,” Tifa muttered.

Cloud was actually relieved. There was finally a reason to convince Tifa to rest. “I’ll tell Barret we can’t make more dishes. We’ll just have to serve them more drinks, free of charge as a substitute.”

He was about to turn and walk himself to Barret, but then felt Tifa’s sudden grab on his arm. “No, we can’t let down the guests. I’ll make the drinks in the meantime while you get more supplies, ok?”

In his effort to inform Tifa that he disagreed with her suggestion, Cloud chose not to offer her any responses… until she had to plead, “Please.”

Without saying a word, Cloud turned and made his way to Barret. The brief walk instilled a sense of urgency to find a way to relieve Tifa off her duties for the day. Cloud hastily began conjuring up different possible scenarios in his head. If he alone could not convince her, then he needed an accomplice to support his case. His eyes soon trailed to Barret.

Pulling Barret away, Cloud told him, “Hey, there’s something I need to tell you.” 

In each other’s confidence, Cloud informed Barret of his plans in a murmur. To his relief, Barret was quick to agree.

“Alright folks! Looks like we’ve run out of supplies, so Cloud and Tifa will have to run to get some for your next round of food. In the meantime, I’ll be serving you the famous AVALANCHE beer!” Barret suddenly announced, clearly commencing Cloud’s plans. His declaration was welcomed with cheers from the crowd.

Feeling Tifa’s gaze on him, Cloud turned to look at her. Tifa mouthed, _“What?”_

With a mischievous side smile, Cloud shrugged and saw her reacted with a shake of her head.

As soon as Barret took the role of bar tending, Cloud and Tifa left to make their way to grocery stores they often frequented near Meteor Square. Fortunately for Cloud, Tifa did not probe him on what happened between him and Barret. In fact, she seemed relieved herself to be out of the bar and was more relaxed. They took their leisurely time to cross off the items in their grocery list, meticulously inspecting each food item that caught their attention before deciding to make a purchase. They even managed to buy some marshmallows for Denzel and Marlene, and Cloud’s Amino-D drinks.

When they finished, the sun was nearly setting. It was a quiet walk back home; both Cloud and Tifa were silently enjoying each other’s presence. The stillness gave them both time to reflect… and a thought crossed Cloud’s mind. _Why can’t I just be honest with her?_ He thought as his eyes soon traced Tifa’s profile that was washed amber by the sunset.

_I have to tell her_. He convinced himself again.

Mustering all the courage that he could get, Cloud slowly broke the silence, “Hey Tifa… don’t push yourself.”

“Hmm?”

He was unable to look at her and could feel his cheeks burning up. “I’m always here, you know… to help.”

He soon heard her giggle, which prompted him to look at her. Tifa had seemingly paused in her tracks. She had her arms folded at her back, and one of her feet a step behind her – a gesture made out of habit whenever she was content. With a shy smile, Tifa nodded. “Ok, I’ll make a note of that.”

Cloud smiled in return, glad that his feelings have reached her.

“You know… I saw you at the doors all the time,” Tifa said, grinning.

Initially, Tifa’s words invited astonishment to Cloud. But that quickly turned into feelings of embarrassment… his face crumpled while listening to Tifa chuckling.

“Alright. You’ll be helping me in the kitchen tonight,” Tifa eventually declared, beaming.

Pleased with finally winning Tifa’s approval to help her, Cloud nodded.

A moment of quietly exchanging gazes and warm smiles to one another persisted before they decided to resume their walk home… and both were feeling somewhat tipsy.

The further they walked, the more they could feel the distance between them gradually abridging – a metre to half a meter, and then to a few inches away. In a little while, Cloud could feel Tifa’s hand grazed his hand. Almost like an act of telepathy, Cloud let his hand find its way to hold onto Tifa’s, and Tifa received him willingly.

It was the first time they had their hands connected to one another.

And they could feel their lips curved into smiles, with their hearts wishing that the journey home would be longer.


End file.
